1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of transmitting radiation, such as light, through a group of apertures. More specifically, the present invention is directed towards two parallel rings of radiation apertures, one ring being mounted on a rotatable base. As the rotatable ring is rotated, only one aperture of one ring at most will align at any unique time with an aperture in the other ring, in order to pass a beam of light through both apertures.
2. The Prior Art
Parallel rings of apertures are well known in the art, usually with one set of apertures being filters and the other set of apertures being detectors. In the prior art, however, both sets generally have equal numbers of apertures equally spaced around the rings. This means that when one pair of apertures aligns to pass a beam of light, all of the pairs of apertures align to pass beams of light.
One variation of this method increases the number of apertures in one of the rings by an integral amount. For example, one system may double the number of apertures in the second ring. This means that when any one pair of apertures aligns, one half of the apertures of the second ring also align.
Another type of ring aperture system aligns only one aperture pair at any unique time. In these systems, however, one of the rings consists of only a single aperture.
The third type of ring aperture system uses a plurality of apertures in both of the rings, and still aligns only one aperture pair at any unique time. This system groups all of the apertures of one ring into a portion of a circle, the arc of the circle being smaller than the arc of the distance between the apertures of the counterpart ring. Thus, if one plurality contained four apertures equally spaced around the ring, then the counterpart ring would have all of its apertures located within a distance of less than one quarter of its arc.